A conspiracy theory that Brian Laundrie isn't dead is being spread on TikTok by top influencer Tana Mongeau

• TikTokers are calling out Tana Mongeau for misinforming viewers about Brian Laundrie.
• The YouTuber said in a recent TikTok that authorities misidentified Laundrie's remains.

Online celebrity Tana Mongeau has come under fire after claiming that Brian Laundrie's body was misidentified by authorities - a conspiracy theory that has been circulating on the app for the last week.

22-year-old Mongeau, who has nearly 7 million followers on the app, first rose to fame in 2017. She started her career on YouTube, where she has 5.45 million subscribers, posting "storytime" videos, but has since branched out into podcasts, OnlyFans, and TikTok.

In a TikTok posted Tuesday, Mongeau said, "I'm not joking. I genuinely think something was placed there so that people would think the remains were him."

Human remains were found at the Carlton Reserve in Florida on October 20, and authorities later confirmed that Laundrie's dental records matched those of the remains. This discovery came after Laundrie was reported missing last month after returning home from his cross-country road trip without his fiancé Gabby Petito. After previously being reported missing herself, Petito's body was found on September 19, and her death was ruled a homicide by a Wyoming coroner.

Mongeau also said in the clip that "news sources confirmed" the remains found did not belong to Laundrie, and appeared to suggest the Laundrie family's decision to not hold a funeral for him was suspicious.

"I guarantee you he's in like Paris, France right now living his best life getting a croissant," she said. "He is alive. And that's the tea." Since posting the TikTok - which is captioned "I said what I said" - two days ago, it has amassed 3.4 million views.

Mongeau appeared to make the TikTok in response to fan backlash over a tweet she posted last week, saying Laundrie was "trying to pull a Joe Goldberg." Joe Goldberg is a character from the Netflix series "You" who, in the latest season, fled the country after murdering his wife.

On Tuesday, the same day Mongeau posted the TikTok, the North Port Police Department denied "false reports" that the DNA of the remains found last week did not match Laundrie, referring to a statement from the District 12 medical examiner.

"The identity of the remains found at the Carlton Reserve on 20 October was confirmed by comparison to known dental records of Brian Laundrie," the statement posted to Twitter said. The medical examiner noted that no DNA testing had been performed on the remains as of yet.

Mongeau does not state what "news sources" she is referring to, but rumors that Laundrie's body had been misidentified have been circulating on social media following a Fox News report on Sunday presented by Nancy Grace.

The televised news segment, where Grace said the details of Laundrie's purported remains were "all very vague," included text that read, "No DNA match or cause of death for Brian Laundrie after body found."

Unverified Facebook page Skyline News directly referenced Fox News' claims the following day in a Facebook post that said, "DNA does not match." Since being uploaded, the post has garnered over 150,000 shares and 64,000 comments.

Facebook, TikTok, and Mongeau did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

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